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I Already Voted — Did You?

All year, it seems like, we’ve been running CRM Idol, the contest started by Paul Greenberg to identify hot emerging companies in the greater CRM space. We are now down to voting for finalists and this is where you finally get the chance to make your ideas known. Time to vote.

This year’s crop of contestants, and especially the finalists, was exceptionally strong. These companies are all well deserving of the venture capital that they’ve already raised as well as what will be showered on them after the voting is over. We could tell right away that this year’s crop was a cut above last year’s — and they were pretty special, too. But the companies in this year’s contest really, really get it. They are laser focused on social and its many tentacles into CRM.

But social is not the only thing on the menu. We’ve seen an impressive array of automation that goes from various forms of analysis to clever virtual agents. So, when you vote think about all that and also think about how three of the seven finalists come from parts outside of Norte America. That’s right, this is a global event these days.

So let’s get to it. To vote go to the CRM Idol site here and please, s’il vous plait, por favor,puhleeze! watch the video that each company made to describe to you the business problem they solve, how they do it and what customers think of it. Then read our judges reviews of each company. Figure you need to spend about 30 minutes to do this job right and we need you to be conscientious about it.

Don’t worry if you can’t get it all done in one sitting, we know what it’s like to live in these distracted times. But come back if you need to, make some notes to yourself. Rule some out before making your final selection if it helps (just like taking the SATs).

So, go vote, it will do you some good. It will show you where the market is moving. It will also help some very talented emerging companies to sharpen their ideas and offers. Most importantly, I’ve come to see Idol as the premiere community building activity in the front office. You don’t see ERP vendors doing this, or HCM or any other branch of software (OK, maybe gamers have something equivalent but that’s not business, it’s entertainment). It’s one of those things — like Dreamforce — that makes CRM such a hip and vibrant place to hang your hat. Click here to get going.